Musicals - Cats

I was excited to see for most of the year that the Christmas production at the Oxford New Theatre was to be Cats.  And I decided that I would like to go and see it and as John wasn't that interested I used the Chickbeans Christmas money to take myself on the eve of the last day of term.  And using Mr B's discount and choosing a restricted view seat (that wasn't really and I moved for the second half) I only spent £15.  I was very excited to be going again.  My three previous visits are briefly described in My Musicals Love.  I wasn't too sure how the show would live up to my expectations.  I was both highly excited about it and at the same time saying it really wasn't going to be that great.

Fortunately, it was excellent!  I loved the music (not every song, it does have some lower points), the cats movement, the costumes.  I spent a lot of it counting how many cats are on stage at any one time and realised that lots of them play many parts.  I was also trying to work out which one was Mr Mistofelees.  There were some bits I remembered but lots and didn't, and some bits that happened which then produced an inkling of recognition, like the giant boot falling onto the stage early on.  I still loved Mr Mistofelees and I also enjoyed Rum Tum Tugger more than I remembered - it was his Elvis bit.  I also enjoyed the suspense of Macavity and I liked Skimbleshanks which I remember 'discovering' last time I went in Oxford at uni.




There was a funny bit during Magical Mr Mistofelees when a cat had been sitting on a drain pipe and most of the cats were looking at her including Rum Tum Tugger who had been leading the song.  She came off the pipe towards Rum Tum and he said, rather than sang, 'get back on there' and then turned to the audience and said 'sorry' and then the cat went back to the pipe and a magic trick happened.  It was all quite strange and I guess it had been a mistake.

I came running out of the theatre to where John was waiting for me and I was on such a wonderful high.  When I got in the car John played me a bit on the radio where the breaking news was the collapse of the roof in a West End Theatre.  It was quite spooky and brought me back down to earth.  Fortunately no one was killed.